To make soil components easily releasable from fibers during washing, a treatment of previously adsorbing a base material onto fibers is conducted in some cases. When fibers are subjected to such treatment, a higher cleaning effect than in conventional washing can expected. The base material exhibiting such effect is generally called “soil release agent”.
As to the soil release agent, various base materials have been proposed. For example, terephthalate-based compounds (U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,952, U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,039, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,584) have been proposed.
Polyamine derivatives (WO-A 97/42285, JP-A 11-508319) and chitosan derivatives (JP-A2004-175882), amine crosslinked products (JP-A 2004-197241) etc. have also been proposed.
Further, JP-B 3253972 describes a soil-detaching agent consisting of a polysaccharide having a cationic group (ammonium etc.) and a hydrophobic group, and a polyvinyl alcohol.
JP-A 4-228680 proposes a fiber product treatment composition containing a deflocculating polymer having a hydrophilic main chain and one or more hydrophobic side chains, but does not describe a soil release effect.
JP-A 6-228883 describes a softener composition containing a polymer consisting of a monomer with a specific structure having an amino group.
It is not disclosed that fiber products treated with liquid softener compositions compounded with the soil release agents described in these literatures can be endowed not only with soil release performance but also with softening performance at satisfactory levels.
Softener compositions made transparent or semitransparent from an aesthetic viewpoint have been developed in recent years, and JP-A 2001-524616 discloses a technique of using a solvent having specific log P, and it is conceivable that these compositions attain transparency by micro-emulsification or solubilization of water-insoluble quaternary ammonium salt compounds with the specific solvent. JP-A 2006-161215 discloses a technique of using a nonionic surfactant having a specific structure together with a solvent having specific log P. WO-A 2004/025017 discloses that a liquid softener composition based on silicone can be made transparent.
Softener compositions made transparent or semitransparent from an aesthetic viewpoint have been developed in recent years. Conventional emulsified softener compositions have a water-insoluble softening main base dispersed in water in the form of particles having a diameter of several hundreds nanometers to several hundreds micrometers, and have a disadvantage that the composition is separated during long storage, while the transparent or semitransparent liquid softener compositions have an advantage that storage stability is dramatically improved by thermodynamically stable micro-emulsification or solubilization of the main base. JP-A 2001-524616 discloses a technique of using a solvent having specific log P, and it is conceivable that this technique achieves transparency by micro-emulsification or solubilization of water-insoluble quaternary ammonium salt compounds with the specific solvent. JP-A 2006-161215 discloses a technique of using a nonionic surfactant having a specific structure together with a solvent having specific log P. WO-A 2004/025017 discloses that a liquid softener composition based on silicone can be made transparent.
Meanwhile, techniques of improving softening performance by incorporating cationic polymers into softener compositions are known (WO-A 2004/025017, JP-A 2000-503735). It is also known that for coating on a soft base (JP-A 6-228883) and as a deflocculating polymer for viscosity regulation (JP-A 4-228680), a cationic polymer is incorporated into a softener.